Struve, who weighed 240 pounds for his 2009 promotional debut and 253 at Friday’s UFC 124 weigh-ins, has 290 pounds in sight for future fights.

“When I got in the UFC, I was 239 pounds,” Struve said prior to UFC 124, which takes place at Montreal’s Bell Centre live on pay-per-view. “Right about now, I’m about 255, maybe a little more.”

The weight continually has increased for once rail-thin six-year pro, and he said that’s been the plan all along.

“We try to put on weight for every single fight, and I’m getting bigger for every fight,” Struve said. “I want to get up to 280 or 290 pounds and cut down (to the 265-pound limit). I want to do it the right way, no fat and all muscle. I’m doing a pretty good job so far.”

In fact, with his bolstered physique, Struve – who’s won four of his past five UFC fights – caught the eye of many people this week. Chief among them was McCorkle, a self-proclaimed Internet troll who riled Struve with a constant stream of online taunting in the buildup to the fight.

McCorkle, a former super heavyweight who rapidly cut weight prior to his promotional debut (and a UFC 119 win over Mark Hunt) in his hometown of Indianapolis, got his first real-life look at Struve during Wednesday’s open workouts.

“He’s bigger than I thought he would be,” McCorkle admitted. “I thought he’d be skinnier. It looks like he put a few pounds on.”

Outside of losses to top heavyweight contender Junior Dos Santos and “The Ultimate Fighter 10″ winner Roy Nelson, Struve has eased well into UFC competition. A 16-2 record and 15-1 run got him into the organization, and a well-balanced fighting style and remarkable resilience have kept him there.

But the popular (and perhaps only) talking point leading into UFC 124 has been the friendly feud with McCorkle. McCorkle took to Twitter and MMA messageboards and media interviews both to antagonize and hype the fight.

“I wish I could lie and add some drama, but no, I don’t have a problem
with him at all,” McCorkle recently told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “It was all good-natured. The
trash-talk leading up to it was just to build interest in the fight.
It’s hard to hate a guy that looks like he’s 12 years old.”

Such efforts likely helped the heavyweights earn co-headliner status at tonight’s show – which resulted in some criticism from MMA purists and some fellow fighters – but it’s not really the way Struve wanted to get it.

“This is the first time someone has talked so much before a fight,” he said. “I immediately said I’m not going back and forth with him on the Internet. … I don’t like the trash talk.”

“I only listen to people who have intelligent things to say. He doesn’t.”

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